BREWER – The city’s largest employer is laying off 18 employees.

Lemforder Corp., an auto parts maker that employs about 315 people at the Brewer operation, made the cuts Monday.

Lemforder’s parent company, ZF Lemforder of Northville, Mich., announced in April that the Brewer plant would be laying off 15 people in May.

No cuts were made, however, until Monday.

“Lemforder works on multiyear contracts with auto producers and apparently one of their production lines ended its contract in the spring,” Brewer Economic Development Director Drew Sachs said Tuesday. “The replacement line, for which they already have a contract, isn’t slated to begin production for another year. This created a lag period during which they are overstaffed.

“Originally, they had hoped to not lay off these people, under hopes that the economy would turn strong and production of other lines would absorb the excess labor,” Sachs said. “While the economy improved, it didn’t get strong enough to avoid the layoffs this fall.”

Brewer’s Lemforder plant is part of ZF Lemforder’s car chassis division and is located in the city’s East-West Industrial Park.